Flyers still on break, judging by 7-3 loss

PHILADELPHIA -- The easy explanation would be the Flyers were rusty due to an 18-day layoff. But weren’t the San Jose Sharks off the same amount of time?

So toss out the Olympic break as an excuse for why the Flyers were run out of the Wells Fargo Center by a 7-3 score Thursday night.

Besides, if the Flyers were so out of sync, how did they manage to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission?

And how do you explain how the Sharks managed to score five unanswered goals in the second period, three of them by USA Olympian Joe Pavelski?

Pavelski was all over the place, at one point batting a puck out of the air past starting goalie Steve Mason, who was lifted in favor of Ray Emery after giving up San Jose’s fourth goal.

Emery couldn’t stop the bleeding, allowing Pavelski’s third goal and surrendering Raffi Torres’ second goal of the game with only 2.2 seconds remaining in the second period.

Later, Mason returned to the game when Emery was forced to leave the game with an undisclosed injury.

“It (the long break) is tough but it’s not an excuse,’’ defenseman Andrej Meszaros said, alluding to the time off plus five Flyers in the Winter Games. “(The Sharks) had some guys at the Olympics, too. They didn’t look bad at all. We didn’t skate hard enough, they outworked us. We just couldn’t get it going for some reason.’’

Unlike some of his teammates, Scott Hartnell had no shortage of emotion and eventually picked up a 10-minute misconduct penalty. He said the biggest challenge coming out of the break was finding the proper emotional level.

“For me, it felt like a first playoff game,’’ he said. “You have four or five days to amp up your practices, you get all this juice flowing through you.

“Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Tonight it went in a bad direction, the wrong path. We have to be better, I think everyone just playing the right way, playing Flyers hockey, we just got away from that.’’

Added Mason: “I think we were pretty disgusted with the way we played. You know, we had a full week of practice to make sure that we were ready for this.’’

The Flyers gave up a goal to Torres at 4:25 of the first but then responded on scores from Meszaros (filling in for Kimmo Timonen, who got the night off after playing six games for bronze medal-winning Finland in the Olympics) at 10:36 and Brayden Schenn just 22 seconds later.

Meszaros put a shot on goalie Alex Stalock, then raced to the net to get the rebound for his fifth goal.

Schenn scored his 16th when he banked a backhand flip from below the goal line and off defenseman Jason Demers’ skate and across the goal line.

But the Sharks came roaring out for the second period. Pavelski scored a power-play goal at 4:23, then tipped a Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot out of the air and into the net at 10:12.

The parade continued just 35 seconds later on a Logan Couture goal, then Pavelski connected again at 14:10 for his hat trick.

Mason was gone after the Couture goal but was reinserted after Emery was forced to leave.

“We got beat in front of our own net," Mason said. "All their goals came within 10 feet of the crease and we have to be better in that area to have more success."

Coach Craig Berube said his team “almost looked like we stopped competing’’ after the Sharks tied it at 2.

“We’re not getting sticks on pucks, not being hard on people,'' Berube said. "We didn’t compete hard enough to win the game. They’re embarrassed. We’re all embarrassed from it tonight.’’

The Sharks kept their unbeaten streak alive in Philadelphia, where they have not lost since December, 2000.

Emery update

After the game, Emery explained why he left the game in the third period following a relief stint for Mason.

“Something didn’t feel right,’’ Emery said, adding that he wasn’t sure what his status would be for Saturday’s home game against the New York Rangers.

“I want to be healthy and play as quickly as I can,’’ Emery said, revealing that this is a new injury.

Follow Us

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Burlington County Times ~ 4284 U.S. Route 130, Willingboro, NJ 08046 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service